Gotta Be Love
by NCIS Obsession
Summary: Tag to 10x15 "Hereafter." Tony and Ziva are having fun babysitting Kayla and Jared Vance, but apparently kids are more perceptive than they'd thought. Kayla sees something in Tony and Ziva that they, themselves, do not see.


**So, I wrote a thing and posted it on Tumblr the other day because my Tumblr page reached 100 followers! (television-overload)**

 **Finally getting around to posting it to fanfiction because my dorm room is empty and I'm bored. I have only one final left, which is tonight, and then it's time to go back home. I hope you enjoy this little one-shot of fluffiness.**

It was almost ironic, Ziva thought, that Tony's biggest fear in the world was children. He, himself, was practically a child. And besides, in his line of work there were plenty of other, more rational fears to choose from. Why children?

Over the course of the night, Tony had loosened up and was now making a mess trying to tape a piece of pizza to the top of the pizza box. Of all the things she expected to happen as she and Tony babysat Director Vance's children, _that_ was not one of them.

"It's a dorsal fin!" Ziva heard Tony exclaim, proudly showing the two children his creation. Ziva stood in the doorway, simply watching their interaction with a smile on her face. Tony glanced up, grinning widely at Ziva with a look of excitement and childish delight.

Ziva's eye glimmered with mischief as she stepped into the kitchen and toward Tony. She stopped right behind him, leaning over slowly to survey the pizza masterpiece. Her proximity to him caused Tony's breath to visibly hitch, but the mood quickly changed when Ziva reached down and snatched the piece of pizza off of the box. She dashed quickly away into the living room to escape Tony, who was close behind and grabbing for the pizza.

"Get it, Tony!" Jared Vance cheered, standing in the doorway next to his sister.

Ziva managed to separate herself from Tony with the couch in between. When he moved one way around the couch, she moved too so that he would not be able to reach her. She teasingly brought the slice of pizza closer to her mouth, threatening to take a bite.

Giggles erupted from Kayla and Jared, enthralled by the dramatic battle for the slice of pizza.

"Don't you dare!" Tony exclaimed with an exaggerated look of horror on his face. He tried to trick Ziva by faking left and then dashing right, but she was too quick. "Crazy ninja," he muttered under his breath, eliciting more laughs from Jared.

Just then, an idea popped into his head. If he couldn't catch Ziva by running around the couch in circles, then he'd have to try another tactic. He grinned as Ziva fell into his trap. She stood in front of the couch, prepared to run, right where Tony wanted her. In one not-so-graceful move, Tony jumped over the couch, grabbing Ziva around the waist and pulling her onto the couch with him. His fingers found her sides and he began to tickle her, hoping it would cause a distraction and she would lose her grip on the pizza slice. Ziva giggled, _giggled_ , and it almost caused more of a distraction in Tony. He hadn't been prepared for such a beautiful sound. Before he knew it, the slice of pizza had made its way to Ziva's lips, and a big chunk of it was gone.

"NOOOO!" Jared exclaimed dramatically, shaking his hands and falling to his knees like people do in cliché movies. Kayla was laughing so hard that she had her arms around her sides and she had to lean against the door frame for support.

Tony was smiling from ear to ear, despite losing the battle. Ziva had rolled herself out of his grasp and was now seated on another chair, enjoying the last slice of pizza with a smug look of victory on her face.

"That was cold, Ziva David," Tony said, pointing a finger in her direction. He was breathing heavily from the effort it had taken to catch her, but the look of admiration in his eyes was unmistakable. At least to Kayla, who had finally managed to cease giggling.

"Cold like this pizza, you mean?" Ziva quipped back, finishing off the slice.

Tony shook his head and chuckled. "Cold like ice cream," he amended, finally standing from the couch, "which goes really well with pizza." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, heading toward the kitchen. "Who wants ice cream?"

Shouts of agreement blasted in Tony's ears as the children bounced up and down excitedly.

"I think we have some in the freezer in the garage!" Kayla said, leading Tony in that direction. "I'll help you find it."

The two made their way into the garage, and Tony spotted a large deep freezer in the back corner.

"Hmm, chocolate mint, peanut butter, vanilla bean," Tony listed as he surveyed the freezer, surprised by the selection of ice cream that the Vances kept in their home. He continued to search through, muttering the types of ice cream, until Kayla asked something he definitely was not prepared for.

"Are you in love with Ziva?" she said innocently.

Tony's head snapped up in surprise, slamming into the lid of the deep freeze in the process. "What? No. Why would you think that?" he said, much too quickly.

Kayla raised her eyebrows. "I'm twelve, not stupid."

Tony sighed and leaned his head against the wall with his eyes squeezed shut. This was one reason children freaked him out. They are impossibly perceptive. Nothing gets past them, and they have no filter. A dangerous combination.

"Okay fine," he said after a moment, his voice hushed. "Is it that obvious?"

Kayla's eyes brightened. "Not to her, it's not."

Tony sighed again, shaking his head as he leaned against the deep freeze.

"When are you going to tell her?" Kayla asked casually.

"It's not that simple," Tony answered. This conversation was starting to stress him out.

Kayla tilted her head. "Yes it is."

"No, it's not," Tony countered, more firmly this time.

Suddenly the door opened and Ziva poked her head out. "Everything okay in here?" she asked, smiling at Tony and Kayla. The look of anxiety on Tony's face went unnoticed by the Israeli, but Kayla kept looking back and forth between the two agents.

"Yep, everything's good, just trying to decide which ice cream to bring," Tony assured, sending a look to Kayla telling her to keep quiet.

Ziva nodded once and eyed Tony suspiciously, smiling as she closed the door.

"Don't say anything to her!" Tony begged Kayla as he hurriedly scooped every bucket of ice cream available into his arms.

Kayla sighed in exasperation. "I won't, but you should. I don't know who you think you're fooling."

Tony suddenly felt very sweaty and dizzy, and kind of like he _had_ eaten a bad batch of shellfish. "It's just…feelings, okay? Nothing huge. They'll go away. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Just admit it, Tony," Kayla urged as the two walked back toward the door to the house.

"Nothing to admit, really," Tony said decisively.

"You love her."

"It's not really—"

"Love."

"Could you please just—"

"Say it."

Tony stopped suddenly and set the ice cream on a nearby workbench. "Okay FINE," he said, only slightly too loud. "I'm in love with Ziva, okay? I love her."

Only after the words left his mouth did Tony see her standing there, mouth hanging open in surprise, and maybe even a few tears in her eyes.

Kayla grinned. Things had a way of working out after all.

 **So anyway, that's that. I liked this idea and I think it worked out pretty well. Obvious Tiva cuteness.**

 **I don't even know what to say about last night's episode of NCIS. I'm glad they didn't kill off Abby, and each mention of Tony or Ziva practically stopped my heart, but I'm disappointed and, frankly, angry that Pauley and Mark couldn't put aside their differences for two seconds to film a proper goodbye scene. Whatever. I miss the good old days.**

 **Honestly, I can't believe 115 (as of right now) people find what I post on Tumblr interesting. I made a Tumblr not expecting people to follow me. I just wanted to save stuff to my blog, but I'm glad lots of people like what I post too.**

 **Can't believe this is my last day at college till next year. That's crazy.**

 **Make sure you review and favorite this story! And check out some of my others if you haven't. There's lots to choose from**

 **Have a good summer, and hopefully I'll be able to write some more stories over break.**

 **~NCIS Obsession**


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